Shoulder pain may be the result of an acute or chronic injury. Shoulder pain may result from neck, shoulder blade (scapula), torso, elbow, forearm or hand pain or strain. Evaluation of shoulder strength, flexibility and coordination allows proper treatment of rotator cuff injuries, capsular injuries and other chronic shoulder strains.

Because of modern society conveniences, we do not use our bodies in the varied ways we did as children or as those in less industrialized societies do. For instance, instead of picking apples by reaching overhead into an apple tree, we usually pick them from a convenient height grocery counter. Instead of carrying heavy loads on our heads or shoulders, we carry them in our arms.

There are distinct advantages to this convenience, but the result for our bodies is that we develop very strong arms, forearms and hands. When these outer arm muscles become stronger than our shoulder stabilizing muscles (the rotator cuff muscles and the muscles between the shoulder blades), this causes strain and often pain in the shoulders, and may also result in strain and pain or dysfunction in the neck. Restoring normal range of motion and strength to the shoulder stabilizers is key to shoulder rehabilitation.